Ice Lakes
by FrozenDecay
Summary: They should have never gone through that portal. Jesse watched in horror as the ice beneath Lukas cracked, splintering and spider-webbing all around him. "Don't come any closer," he yelled at them. "It's fine. I'm fine!" And then he fell through.
1. The Lake

**So some people say that there was a reference to the character Luke from Telltale's The Walking Dead series at the start of episode 7, when Lukas talked about 'ice lakes'. And considering how they both have the same voice actor, similar personalities, and nearly the same name, I just thought, 'How great would it be if there was a MCSM version of that ice lake scene from The Walking Dead.' So here we are.**

 **And as a little note, I really do apologize in advance about this story. It may just be the trashiest thing I have written to date, as you will probably see if you choose to read beyond the first chapter.**

 **Please R &R!**

* * *

They'd been in this world for two days now.

It hadn't been so bad at first. A thick layer of snow had broken their fall as they walked through another portal - a white one - after their last 'fun' adventure in a green portal. If Jesse had to trek through another witch-infested swamp, it would be too soon.

Their immediate reaction was to wrap their arms around themselves as an Arctic gust blew into their faces. Thick snow clouds covered the sky and filtered the last rays of sunlight. The snow came up to their waists and shimmered like diamonds, crunching whenever they made a movement. They had come in the middle of a snow flurry, and while it was light, it soon dusted their heads and shoulders.

After pulling themselves out and fashioning some makeshift snowshoes, everyone agreed that their best plan was to travel through the darkening wasteland until they stumbled across civilization.

They had walked all night with their weapons drawn, squinting into the darkness for any monsters. But other than the occasional spider, there was no sign of life anywhere. That alone was unnerving.

It took an eternity for morning to come, but then Jesse wasn't sure whether it was an improvement. It was like someone had covered the world with glowstone lamps, as daylight bounced off the snowy plains. At least in the dark, they didn't have to worry about being blinded, and could march with the hope that they would find a town or people. But in that dazzling light, it was clear that they would find nothing but miles and miles of ice and snow.

That was their first hint that finding the exit portal wouldn't be a breeze.

It was with heavy hearts that they continued, stopping only to eat and take hour-long naps.

During one of these breaks beside a small frozen pond, Jesse and Petra had gone off to scout ahead. A few minutes later, they found a snow covered signpost pointing to a cluster of mountains. Underneath it all was a single word, carved into the damp, rotted wood. _Home, 50 miles._

To say that they were ecstatic was an understatement.

Upon returning to the pond, they discovered some of the creatures that inhabited this world. Adorable, tiny penguins.

There must have been a colony nearby, because when they arrived masses of black and white birds surrounded them. The noise was spectacularly loud as the birds cried and cackled to them and each other. It was an effort not to trample on any of them as they waddled underfoot, staring at them with beady eyes and flapping their wings when they got too close.

Ivor stood in the middle of them, stranded with a single fish in his hands. "No, this is mine! You can't have it!" he yelled at them, holding the prized item above his head as penguins flocked towards him.

Lukas was having an easier time, sitting on a rock with his book and quill in hand while baby penguins snuggled huddled around his feet. The adults must have decided that he wasn't a threat to leave their chicks with him. He didn't seem to mind it, though, focusing his attention sketching the balls of grey fluff.

Petra, on the other hand, did mind it. In fact, she seemed particularly unimpressed by the scene.

Since then, they had been walking non-stop, heading in the direction of the mountains and coming across more signposts pointing in the same direction. Jesse had lost count of how many times someone had asked for a break, only to be slammed down by Petra. At this point, it wasn't clear who was the actual leader: her or Petra. And to think, she once believed that dealing with an angry Lukas at Soren's fortress was bad.

But that was the least of her concerns as they pressed on into the biting cold. Halfway up the mountains, the wind suddenly picked up and started whipping the fallen snow all around them. A thick blanket of snow clouds covered the sky and blocked out the sunlight. The mountains soon disappeared behind tons of falling snow, and it quickly became impossible know what direction they were heading.

Jesse kept her head down as the wind blew into her face, throwing dozens of snowflakes into her eyes and hair. Her numb feet crunched through the freshly fallen snow, leaving a trail of footprints for the others to follow. Every once in a while, she would cast a glance over her shoulder to check up on how the others were doing.

Petra was by far the best equipped of them all. Her helmet shielded her head from the biting cold and most of the snow, not to mention that she was the only person besides Jesse who had an enchanted weapon. Lukas came next, but his thin layer of armour was more suited to the rainstorms back in their own world.

And then there was Ivor.

Every time Jesse had looked back, he was shivering three times as more than anyone else. The snow stuck to every inch of his body, his robes billowing behind him in the wind. It was worrying that she had mistaken him for a walking snowman several times now – not that they had seen any walking snow monsters so far.

"Maybe we should find shelter for the night," Jesse called over the roaring wind. The snow clouds blotted out any sign of the sky, making it impossible to discern whether it was day or night. She, for one, didn't want to wander aimlessly in a place like this.

Ivor and Lukas looked particularly relieved at her suggestion as their breaths fogged up in front of their faces. "A fine suggestion," Ivor rubbed his shoulders while his teeth chattered furiously. "I recommend that we build an igloo and review our current–"

Suddenly, Petra threw her hands in the air and yelled loudly. "You think this storm is going to let up anytime soon? We've got no food, no dry wood for a fire and you want to build a shelter anyway?"

"And you would have us to keep going?"

Petra started to tremble - not from the cold, but with anger. She stormed Jesse, leaving a trail of deep footprints in her wake. "We're wasting time and energy standing around like this. You guys can go build your fancy igloo and spend the rest of the storm doing absolutely nothing. And when you finally come to your senses, I'll be up ahead. Finding the exit portal."

Within seconds she was gone, vanishing into the billowing white cloud.

Jesse groaned into her hands - she hated it when Petra was like this, taking her frustration out on everyone and making impulsive decisions without considering the welfare of the group. While she may be the best fighter of the group, she was definitely not the most patient.

Her brain ran through her options, arguing and debating with every idea she had. On one hand, she wanted to stop for the others sake. They could dig a shelter in the snow and resume the search for Petra once the blizzard had passed. But the voice she called reason said that they needed to regroup as quickly as possible to increase their chances of survival. In a shelter, they would have no way of knowing where Petra was and if she was in danger. She could fall down a crevice or collapse from exhaustion, and they would be in the dark about it.

It came down to two options: go after Petra while exposing herself, Lukas and Ivor to the elements, or put their safety first and leave Petra to fend for herself.

And even then, it didn't feel like she had a choice about what to do.

"Come on," she started following the trail of footprints. "We need to catch up with her before she gets herself killed."

"But-"

"I'm sorry, Ivor, but the blizzard is already covering her tracks. The moment they're gone, we're all done for." She hated herself for saying that, especially as she spotted Ivor and Lukas exchange the same unhappy expression, but she forced herself to keep going.

They continued on in silence, keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of Petra's footprints. Jesse had to shield her eyes from the snow as the wind pummeled into her body. The snow packed against her armour and seeped through. It melted against her skin, thoroughly soaking her clothes, while drops trickled down her legs and into her boots. With every step she took, her socks squelched against her skin, sending shivers up her spine.

After a while, the snowfall eased up and their visibility returned to normal. Sunlight poured through the retreating clouds and lit up the path ahead: a short stretch of snow that led into a forest of pine trees. But there was no sign of Petra anywhere.

"Do either of you see Petra?" Jesse called over her shoulder. She thought she heard Lukas' voice, but the howling wind drowned out whatever he said. "What did you say?" she yelled, turning around to her friends.

Lukas walked alongside Ivor, hovering over his shoulder as they hobbled along. Lukas cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted back, "I said, no we can't!"

Moments later, Ivor waved him away with an angry glare. "Don't yell near my ear!" he snapped, hunching his shoulders and wrapping his arms around himself.

Jesse put her hands on her hips and cursed under her breath. Where had Petra gone off to? And more importantly, how had she put so much distance between them? Petra may be a little hot-tempered, but even she wouldn't go running off into a blizzard on her own. In the worst case scenario, she would have scouted ahead, wait for them to catch up, then continue. Petra was all about keeping the group together, no matter their differences. She wouldn't have just abandoned them.

Jesse waited for Ivor and Lukas to catch up before resuming their conversation. "Maybe we passed her?" she shrugged.

"Possible, but unlikely," Ivor panted. He hid his hands in his arm sleeves and shook off the snow collecting on his beard. "If that were the case, she would have caught up to us by now." He looked over Jesse's shoulder, frowning at the forest behind her. "We should head into those trees. They'll offer better protection from the wind."

He walked past them without another word, making slow progress through the knee high snow. Jesse saw Lukas watching him with narrowed eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked. If she had learnt anything from their time together, he had a tendency of making that face whenever he was worried. The last time she saw that suspicious expression was when Petra had Wither sickness.

Lukas opened his mouth as if to say something, but quickly closed it. "It's nothing." He shook his head and brushed past her.

It wasn't difficult for Jesse to catch up with him and grab his shoulder, pulling him around to face her. "No, it's not. Tell me what you're thinking." He kept his eyes pinned on the ground, refusing to give an answer. "Lukas, you have an eye for spotting trouble before any of us, even when it's right in front of us. If you think there's something wrong with Ivor, you need to tell me."

"Who said it was about Ivor?"

"Who else could it be?" The look he gave her was unsettling. It was like everything inside her, her thoughts, feelings, and fears had been laid out for everyone to see. She bit her cheek and fiddled her fingers. "It...is about Ivor, right?"

Something akin to surprise, and mild shame, flashed across his face. "No, it's not...I mean it is, but." He followed Ivor, moving at a pace slow enough for Jesse to walk beside him. Even then, it was difficult to keep up with his long strides. Jesse silently cursed whoever thought making her short would be funny. Was it too much to ask to be a little bit taller?

Lukas remained oblivious to her internal misery. "I'm not a hundred percent sure," he said, glancing her way, "but I think Ivor's hiding something. Just like Petra did before."

"You think it's something serious like her Wither sickness?"

"I don't know. Now yet, anyway."

They went on in silence, keeping a watchful eye on Ivor as they made their way up the snowy bank and into the trees. Ivor had been right about one thing - the swooping pine trees did offer protection from the wind and a considerable amount of snowfall.

Once they had passed through the first cluster of trees, Jesse decided to bring the remnants of their group to a halt. "Alright guys, let's stop here for a bit."

Ivor, once again, was overjoyed with the proposal. He propped himself against one of the thick tree trunks and removed the pressure on his feet. As he sighed in relief, a large pile of snow dislodged itself from the leaves and splatted onto his face.

Seeing him return to his usual grumpy self, brushing the snow off his face, eased Jesse's concern for his wellbeing. Just a bit.

"Okay, let's sum up what we know so far." Jesse stretched her numb, tingling fingers, and started counting on them. "We know that there's some kind of cabin nearby. There haven't been any sign posts since we halfway up the mountain, though."

Lukas piped in from another tree, trying to wipe the ice from his goggle lenses. "But considering how there haven't been any other routes up this mountain, I think it's safe to say that we're on the right track."

"So that brings us to Petra." They all nodded grimly, casting a shadow over their moods. Jesse looked where the forest became denser, the trees packing in closer together and the sunlight poking through the branches. "I've got two ideas. Neither is good."

"Let's hear them."

"One, we wait for Petra in case we did pass her in the blizzard, and then continue on as a group. The problem with that is how we don't have any food, Potions of Healing or dry wood with us. And I'm not sure that cutting down one of these trees would be worth the effort. The wood is probably wet anyway, so we'd just be wasting our energy."

"Not to mention that we may not have overtaken Petra, so by waiting here we would just put more distance between us and her."

Jesse murmured in agreement. "Then there's option two: go through the forest and hope that we find either Petra or the cabin."

They stared at each other, waiting for someone to speak. Jesse certainly didn't want to be the one to decide what they did - it was bad enough that these were the only plans she could come up with. It seemed Lukas and Ivor had the same idea.

The wind rustled through the trees, causing more snow to fall off the branches. They splattered around the three of them, leaving small craters in the untouched while blanket beneath them.

Ivor was the first to give in, but not before he rolled his eyes at Jesse and Lukas' silence. "I think we should continue onwards. It's too risky to assume that we overtook Petra. She knows about the cabin. If I had stormed off life that, I wouldn't waste time trying to regroup. Hopefully, she would think the same thing and head to the cabin."

Lukas crossed his arms and shook his head. "And if she doesn't?"

"Do you want us to stay out here and freeze?"

Jesse shot a disapproving glare at Ivor before addressing Lukas. "Do you have another idea?" she asked politely. They were already down by one person. Jesse didn't want to lose another.

"I'm just saying that we've been walking non-stop since yesterday. If we keep overexerting ourselves like this, we'll start dropping like flies." Lukas gazed up at the trees towering over them. They stretched their branches in all directions, casting a green shadow over the sky. "We're protected from the wind in here. If there's another blizzard, the chances are that the trees will take the brunt of it. We should build an igloo before the snow turns to ice. That way we can make sure no one's injured."

Ivor scoffed at him. "No one is injured!" He did a little twirl to prove his point, waving his arms in the air as he did so. "See? Perfectly fine. And so is Jesse, right?" He waited for Jesse to back him up, putting his hands on his hips.

But instead of nodding along, she narrowed her eyes and inspected his face. Ivor seemed uncomfortable by this and fidgeted under her scrutinizing gaze. Was it her imagination, or did he look paler than usual? She could understand why his hands were tucked away in his sleeves, but she would have thought that he'd have asked for some extra clothes by now. A scarf, some gloves, anything! But other than the occasional snarky comment, he had said nothing. Not to mention that some parts of his face were redder than others, like his nose and the tips of his ears. Somehow, she found it hard to believe that he was fine.

"Are you okay, Ivor? You seem very-"

A roar echoed through the trees, cutting her off before she could continue. They looked at the trees and then at each other. "I'm not the only one who heard that, right?" Jesse said.

Ivor and Lukas appeared at her side. They were probably as unsettled by that noise as she was. "What _was_ that?" Lukas breathed.

Ivor frowned at the trees. "It would seem that there are monsters in this world after all."

"That sounded pretty close. Maybe we should go after all."

Whatever roared did so again, but this time, instead of silence, it was followed by another sound.

Jesse turned in the direction of the noises. "That was different." Something about this made her stomach turn.

"And familiar," Lukas added.

She listened to the voices carefully as they rang through the trees. The first undoubtedly belonged to a monster. The second, she realized, did sound familiar. Then it hit her.

When the second voice yelled a high-pitched battle cry, Jesse was already running in the direction it came from with her sword drawn. "Petra, you idiot!"

She barely felt the snow crunching under her feet as she pushed her legs to move faster. The voices were getting louder. Whatever Petra was fighting it didn't sound too happy.

A branch suddenly appeared in front of her and slapped her across the face before she could react. She caught herself just before her momentum could send her flying onto the ground, and wiped the snow away from her eyes. She could hear Petra screaming ahead and the sound of metal meeting flesh. The monster belted an earth-shattering cry, enough to disturb a flock of birds resting in the trees.

Several low branches blocked her path with a wall of pine leaves. Jesse was about to throw herself through them when something rustled through them, causing the leaves to shake and ripple like a pool of water. A moment later, Petra broke through, running at full speed with her attention focused over her shoulder. Jesse was so surprised to see her that she couldn't get out of the way in time.

They slammed into each other; the sheer force of the impact was like a punch to the stomach, and easily knocked her off her feet. The two of them flew backwards and onto the ground, Jesse taking the brunt of the landing with Petra lying on top of her.

Petra scrambled to her feet, staring at Jesse as if she were a ghost. "Jesse?" The initial surprise of their reunion quickly faded. Petra grabbed Jesse's arm and dragged her to her feet. "I am so sorry," she blurted out, tugging her away from the wall of leaves. "I shouldn't have stormed off like that. It was stupid of me and completely uncalled for!"

While Jesse was relieved to see her in once piece, she couldn't help but wince at Petra's firm grip. "I'm sorry too," she said, before wrenching her arm free, "but that really hurts."

Petra recoiled back a few inches, blinked at her, then grabbed her other arm. She pulled Jesse along, sprinting back the way Jesse had come. "Wait, hold on! What's going on?" Petra wouldn't give her an answer and whipped her head around like a madwoman, gazing at the trees with a panicked expression.

"Where's Ivor and Lukas?" I thought they were with you!"

"They were! They must have fallen behind when I was trying to - oh wait, there they are."

Between two tree trunks, Lukas ran towards them with Ivor on his heels. They both slowed down as they spotted them. "Petra!" Lukas said, clearly relieved to see her. "There you are!"

Ivor stopped next to him and hunched his shoulders with his hands on his knees. He was panting heavily, and regardless of whether he was breathless or not, he didn't look very good.

Petra showed no signs of stopping, though. It was like she hadn't even noticed that they were in front of her. Jesse had to stop and tug her arm back, just to keep Petra from barreling into them.

Petra whirled around and pulled her forward. There was nothing gentle about the action, as Petra dug her heels into the snow and lurched backwards. Jesse accidently bit her tongue as her arm screamed in pain.

"What are you doing?" Petra shouted. "Come on!"

"Not until you explain what the heck is going on!"

"There's no time for that. We need to move, now!"

Jesse toppled forwards and landed face-first into the snow. That didn't seem to stop Petra, who continued to pull her along, even thought that meant dragging her through the snow.

After a few seconds of being pulled forward, she suddenly came to a stop. When Jesse looked up, Lukas had his hands on Petra's shoulders and stared into her eyes. "Slow down there, Petra. Jesse can't move if you keep pulling her like that."

Jesse glared up from an imprint of her face in the snow. She could feel several clumps stuck to her face, almost like a white, fluffy beard. "And while we're doing that," she huffed, as she brushed her beard off, "can you please tell us what we're running from?"

Petra opened her mouth to protest, but instead of words, a massive roar came out. One that was far too wild and brutish to belong to her voice. The blood drained from her face as released Jesse's arm and stared over her. Lukas' eyes had widened to the size of saucers. "Ho-ly _crap_ ," he gasped, freezing where he stood.

Jesse rolled onto her back and sat up. Petra had definitely been fighting a monster, if whatever she was looking at was any indication.

Or, to be more specific, _monsters_. Neither one looked very happy to see them.

Jesse darted her eyes from Petra to the two giant balls of fluff and rage. They glared back at her with red eyes, slowly walking over to them with snarling teeth. Petra pulled her to her feet while pointing her sword at the monsters. She shrugged sheepishly at Jesse with a silent apology in her eyes.

"What did you do?!" Jesse hissed as she pulled her own sword out. Nope, they weren't particularly happy about that. They roared loudly, speeding up their approach.

"So, uh, you want the long version or the short version?"

"What do you think!"

"Short version it is then," Petra grumbled under her breath. "Turns out these guys _really_ don't like it when you get too close to them, which I may or may not have done."

"Did that blizzard make you blind or something! How on earth could you have missed two giant blue monsters made entirely out of muscle?"

"It's not as if I was trying to walk headfirst into them!"

Jesse stared at her with wide eyes. "You did what now," she deadpanned.

As Petra opened her mouth to defend herself, they both suddenly heard someone stumbling behind them. "Whoa, Ivor? _Ivor!_ " Jesse turned around in time to see Lukas catch the old man just as he tripped on his own feet. Lukas looked up at the yetis and slowly helped Ivor to shuffle back.

"Are you alright?" Jesse asked, hoping that Petra was keeping an eye on the yetis for her.

Ivor shook his head and tried to wriggle out of Lukas' firm grip. "I'm fine, I'm fine!" The moment he found his feet again he started to wave Lukas off. "Now let me go, blondie!"

Lukas suddenly gasped and loosened his hold on Ivor's shoulder. "Your hands…" he murmured, staring unabashedly with his jaw slackened.

Ivor tried to hide his hands in his sleeves but it was too late – Jesse had gotten a long look at the problem. It would have been impossible for any of them to have seen in the blizzard unless they had been close enough and knew what to look for. But there wasn't any falling snow to hinder their vision anymore, nor to conceal Ivor's red and puffy fingertips.

"What's wrong with your hands!" Jesse exclaimed loudly. The skin around his knuckles, finger joints and the tops of his nails were waxy and shined in the sunlight. The affected areas had swollen twice their original size, and Jesse could spot what looked like a blister on several of his fingers.

Ivor looked like a deer caught in the headlights, switching his gaze from Jesse, Lukas, and the yetis. "It's nothing!" he protested, "My hands are perfectly fine!"

"No, they're not," Lukas said firmly before cursing under his breath. "I _knew_ it was a bad idea to walk in that blizzard."

Jesse slowly walked around a tree in her way and looked back at the yetis. "Lukas, what's wrong?"

"It's frostbite."

She felt her heart drop into her stomach. Images of blackened fingers and amputated stubs flashed across her mind. Frostbite. Shit, shit, _shit!_

"Ivor why didn't you say anything!?"

"I don't need to tell you anything, blondie! I've dealt with far worse than a little bit of frostbite."

Lukas groaned in frustration, massaging his temples with his own freezing hands. "Are you feeling any numbness anywhere else on your body?"

"What about your feet," Jesse piped in. "You've been falling behind since yesterday. It's because they hurt, isn't it?"

"No! I told you that I'm fine."

"You're not!" Jesse and Lukas yelled in unison.

Petra whirled on the both of them. "Would you three keep it down? I'm trying to focus here–"

Suddenly, one of the yetis took a running start at her, wrapping its blue claws around her waist and hoisting her into the air. Petra screamed as its grip around her tightened, desperately hitting her sword against its wrists to make it let go.

"Let go of her!" Jesse shouted, sprinting towards the yeti and preparing for an attack. The monster roared and threw Petra into her, knocking both of them down in a tangled heap at their friends' feet.

Ivor pulled Jesse to her feet, grabbing her by the armpits and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. It gave her another chance to look at his frostbitten fingers. "We need to treat that before it gets any worse!" She said, picking up her sword as they took several more steps back together.

"But where?" Petra cried in a fearful tone. "We're in the middle of nowhere!"

"The cabin must be nearby. We just have to keep running until we find it, or the yetis get bored of chasing us."

"And how exactly are we going to do that without a map?"

"I'll tell you if you'd just let me explain!"

One of the yetis growled at them and took a step closer. Jesse gave Ivor a gentle shove, coaxing him to keep moving back.

"The sun was shining on our backs when we went to get you. That means West is behind us. All the signposts were pointing North, so-"

Petra caught onto her reasoning and finished the sentence for her. "North must be to the left."

"Exactly. We just keep running in that direction and hopefully we'll find the cabin."

"You're forgetting about the tons of muscle in front of us," Lukas warned. "What happens if they keep chasing us. Even if we find the cabin, they'll probably smash it to the ground if we head inside."

Jesse looked over Petra and tried to see through the cluster of trees. "Ivor, can you still run?" she asked. "We don't want to make it worse."

After a moment's hesitation, Ivor softened his expression. "I'll manage." He said reluctantly.

Jesse tightened her grip on her sword handle. "Petra, take Ivor and head through the woods. Keep running until you see the cabin. Lukas and I will cover you."

Petra nodded and grabbed Ivor by the shoulder. "Anything else?"

"We'll give you a thirty-second head start at best. If all else fails, just keep running."

"Alright. We'll see you at the cabin." Petra turned to leave but stopped at the last second. "Jesse, about earlier…"

"Cabin, Petra. We'll talk later – you can count on it."

Jesse didn't dare to take her eyes off the two yetis as they edged closer for another attack. She heard the snow crunching beneath Ivor and Petra's feet as they ran through the pine trees. "Do you still have your sword, Lukas?"

He drew it out of its sheath with a grin. "You bet."

Under her breath, she started counting down from thirty. The monsters stopped metres away from them, burning their eyes into them. They knew what they were planning. Jesse hoped that they didn't have a plan of their own. _25…24…23…_ "So what's the plan, Jesse?"

"Try and keep them back until the thirty seconds are up. If they look like they're about to attack, give me a signal and we'll run together."

Lukas glanced at the yeti on the right. It's snarl almost looked like a sinister grin, as it sharpened its claws together. "Maybe it's just me, but they already look ready to attack."

"I hear you."

 _12…11…10…_

Suddenly, the left yeti bent down into a running position with its claws at the ready. "Run Lukas!" Jesse cried, twirling around and sprinting into the woods with Lukas at her side. As the yetis roared, birds flew from the trees and cawed into the sky. She didn't need to look behind her to know that they were right on her tail.

"Ivor! Petra! Run!" She screamed into the trees, hoping that her voice would carry far enough for them to hear.

Tree trunks surrounded them, blocking their every path and boxing them in. Jesse had to scramble in between them, while trying to stay out of the yetis' grasp. Thankfully, the snow wasn't particularly thick under the trees, making it easier to sprint. Lukas had disappeared from her side but she could still hear him pant behind her.

They kept running, further and further through the forest until the trees started to thin out. Jesse refused to look behind her in case she saw one of the yetis. She didn't trust herself not to freeze up in fear, or to stumble and trip while she looked. And yet the yetis did a good job of tempting her, roaring and snarling over her shoulder.

When she finally broke through the last trees, a sudden surge of light blinded her. Without the thick branches over her head, the sunlight shone all around her. "Stupid sun," she muttered, shielding her eyes from the attack.

The noises behind her had faded slightly - she had some time before she needed to run for her life again. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she brought her hands down to her side.

She quickly spotted their next problem.

The cabin was there, right in front of her. It was a large one too: an oak staircase ran up to a generous front balcony on either side, leading to a large set of glass double doors. Two pine trees had been planted on either side of the two-story lodge and the exquisite building was the kind that would feature on holiday postcards.

It wasn't the cabin that was the problem, but rather the large frozen lake that stood between the building and Jesse.

Petra and Ivor were already halfway across the lake, having put at least 13 feet between them as they carefully tread across the ice. Jesse gently put her foot down onto the frozen lake, testing how stable the ice was. The response she got wasn't comforting – the ice gave a collective groan the moment she applied the smallest bit of pressure. The ice was so clear that she could see the and she could see the water sloshing around underneath it. There must be underwater currents. The long sheet stretching across the lake couldn't have been any more than a few inches thick. If this was what happened when she stepped on the edge of the lake, how thin would the ice be in the centre?

Good questions, but ones that she didn't have time for. The sound of falling trees behind her spurred her feet into action. She placed her other foot in front of the other, making sure that she wasn't going to slip before repeating the action again. With every small step she took, she could feel the ice dip ever so slightly. The pattern she fell into was surprisingly comforting – left foot, don't slip, right foot, don't slip. She balled her hands into fists to try and suppress the shaking every time the ice made a noise. Easy does it, she told herself. Slow and steady.

Suddenly, Lukas burst through the trees and halted at the sight of the ice lake. "Come on Lukas!" she called to him. "You just got to take it slow."

Before he could even but a foot down, the yetis stumbled into the daylight. They glared at Lukas as he pointed his sword at them. One dashed towards him, swiping a clawed hand at his head. He quickly stepped aside and slashed his sword at the yeti's hand. It belted out a cry of agony, cradling its wounded hand by the ice.

Jesse spotted the second yeti prepare for its own attack while Lukas' back was turned. "Lukas, behind you!" Her warning was in vain. Lukas wasn't quick enough to avoid the giant hands that enveloped him, yelping as the yeti dug its claws into his armour. It glowered at him, eyes blazing, and hurled him across the lake.

"Lukas!" He flew over her head and touched down on the centre of the lake. His body bounced off the ice, spinning and skidding several feet away from her.

The same yeti moved its attention to her and started running across the ice towards her. Jesse quickly resumed her step-shuffle, trying to focus her attention on the ice rather than the thundering footsteps behind her. For a moment, she could have sworn that she heard Petra screaming for them, fear tingeing the edge of her voice, but everything in her brain had been kicked into overdrive that she couldn't make sense of anything anymore. There was only one thing that she knew to be true – she needed to get off the ice.

She had just passed Lukas' dazed form when a loud crack echoed across the lake. Behind her, the yeti howled as the ice underneath its right foot suddenly collapsed under its weight. It quickly took several steps back away from the growing hole as even more ice around it started to break away, floating in the freezing water. It looked around for another route, but the ice was far too thin for it to walk on. Jesse watched it tilt its head to the sky and bellowed its rage, before lumbering back the way it came.

She breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at Lukas. He lay spread out over the ice on his stomach, groaning softly. "You alright?" She bent her knees as she tried to distribute her weight more evenly.

He lifted his head to her, wheezing small clouds of condensation. "Yeah, just…need to catch my breath." He didn't sound very hurt, just winded from his rough landing.

She looked at the other end of the lake, where Ivor had just stepped off the last inches of ice before collapsing into the snow on his knees. Petra had stopped where she stood, watching Jesse and Lukas and waiting for them to give her the all-clear. "Let's keep moving," Jesse said to him. "If Ivor could get across safely then so can we."

He nodded at her, propping himself onto his hands and knees and shuffling across the ice. Jesse turned her back on him – her first mistake – and continued her own journey, as did Petra when she saw them moving again.

Jesse distracted herself from the clouding ice with thoughts of the cabin. One that size should have a fireplace. That should be priority one: strip themselves of their soaked clothes and find some dry blankets. They'd need to help Ivor out of his robes too. She didn't know much about frostbite, but she was pretty sure that they should keep him from moving around too much. Maybe Ivor would know what to do. He did say that he had been through worse situations, and if Soren had told the truth then he would have been to the Ice Plains Spikes biome too. If not, then they'd just fill him with potions until he got better.

That was her second mistake – she wasn't paying enough attention to the others.

The unmistakable _crack_ grabbed her attention. It was loud, much louder than before. She slowly looked down at her feet, expecting to see the fractured cracks dancing around her toes. But there was nothing; the ice was a bit clouded from supporting her weight but was otherwise fine.

"Uh…Jesse?" Lukas said behind her.

She closed her eyes and exhaled through her nose. Despite the reassuring words from a tiny voice in her head about Lukas being fine, she knew what would be waiting for her when she turned around.

Inhaling deeply, she tried to smooth the panic she knew was written all over her face, clenching her fists so hard that they drew blood underneath her gloves. She turned around, some small part of her still hoping that everything was fine.

But it wasn't. It was the furthest thing from it.

Ten feet away from her Lukas was frozen in mid-crawl, staring down at the hand-sized fracture by his knee as it lazily crept up his body to his palms. She could see, and hear, his ragged breaths as he slowly lifted his eyes up to hers.

In that moment of fear neither uttered a word, communicating their unspoken conversation through their eyes.

"What's going on?" Petra yelled across the lake.

As Jesse took a tentative step towards Lukas, she suddenly heard a large crack beneath her. Lukas whipped his hand out while looking at her foot. "Don't!" He shouted, fear lacing his usually calm voice. "No one come any closer!"

Jesse dropped her eyes to survey the damage. Two large cracks emerged from either side of her foot, splintering into several smaller branches. Thankfully, they weren't as keen to move any further than a few centimeters from her heels. Unlike those around Lukas. The ice must be thicker where she was.

She tightened her lips, furrowing her brows, and tried to give him a reassuring smile. Lukas shook his head. "No, Jesse don't! It's too thin to support both of us."

"Are you sure?" she breathed, keeping an eye on the ice beneath her too.

"Yeah. It–it's okay, I can make it." His facial expression said otherwise.

"Lukas…"

"Don't take another step, alright. I've got this."

They should never have gone through that portal, Jesse thought to herself as the ice creaked and groaned, much louder than before. The cracks spread even more, spider-webbing around Lukas' whole body. She could see his Adam's apple bob as he gulped silently. He leant forward, wincing as the ice splintered, and reached his right hand out. "I just…I just need to be careful–"

And then the ice broke.


	2. The Rescue

The ice broke with a collective crack, plunging Lukas into the lake with an exclaimed yelp.

" _Lukas!_ " Jesse was screaming before she even realized it. She took a step to the dark, gaping hole but the ice immediately disappeared underneath her, sending her leg through the ice.

"Jesse!" She heard Petra yell behind her. The water seeped through her armour and stabbed her with wave after wave of freezing water. Her lungs constricted, making her gasp in the freezing mountain air. The water reached all the way up to her thigh as more ice started to come loose around it. She tried pulling herself out, but the ice only cracked more when she made any sudden movements.

If she moved the ice would crack. If Petra or Ivor came over to help the ice would crack. She was going to fall in. She was…she was…

 _Stop._

A firm voice echoed in her head. _Calm down. Breathe._

Jesse closed her eyes and focused on making long, deep breaths. _Calm down_ , she told herself. Allowing panic to seize her mind would be a death sentence. She needed to keep a cool head and assess the situation.

The hole was only a few inches deep, but its thickness was probably the only reason why she hadn't fallen in as well. And yet the ice was very unstable with dozens of fissures running through its clear surface. "Alright, this shouldn't be too difficult." She murmured as she lay down onto her back, trying to distribute the rest of her weight evenly around her. She kicked her trapped leg back and forth, creating a flurry of bubbles beneath her, and swiped her arms out to the same rhythm as if she were making a snow angel.

Slowly, but surely, the force generated by her movements propelled her leg a few inches out of the hole. In between breaths, she looked down her body to Lukas' hole. He had still not resurfaced.

The moment she felt her foot rise up out of the hole, she rolled as far away from it as possible. The back of her neck slid against the ice, sending shivers down her spine as she stared up at the white sky.

Petra suddenly came running towards her at full speed – she could hear the vibrations of her footsteps in the ice. "Stop. Stop!" she yelled. Her pleads went right over Petra's head as she reached Jesse, pulling her onto her feet.

"Come on," she struggled to keep her feet steady as they slid and skidded around the ice. "We need to get onto the thicker ice."

They only managed to get a few metres away, thanks to Petra's wobbly legs. All the while they held each other up, Jesse watched Lukas' hole for any signs of life. "He should have come up by now."

Petra nodded in agreement but kept a firm grip on Jesse's shoulder. "It's too dangerous," she told her, as if she knew about the plan developing in her head. "You'd just end up falling in yourself."

Jesse shook her head, trying to dispel the negative thoughts in her head. He'd be alright. Lukas was a good swimmer – he'd be able to get out. They'd been in much worse situations than this: running from the Witherstorm, Endermen, Ghasts… In comparison to everything they'd gone through, this should be a walk in the park for him.

He'd make it. He _had_ to.

"Hold up, hold up," Petra stopped and frowned, looking across the lake. "Do you hear that?"

Jesse closed her eyes and listened to the silence. "I don't hear anything but the wi– _MMPH!_ " She glared at Petra as she covered her mouth, smothering the rest of her sentence.

"Shut up and listen."

The wind howled across the frozen wasteland, rustling through the bushes and pine trees on either side of the lake. There wasn't even any birdsong echoing from the forests, no bleating rams or gakkering penguins. She was about to snap at Petra when she heard it.

"What is that?" She knelt to the ground and put her hand on the ice. "Scratching?" she mumbled softly. There was that and the faint popping of bubbles rising up to the hole she made.

Almost like–

An arm shot through the hole, clawing at the edges and pulling handfuls of ice off. The bubble stream increased in both size and number, the sound becoming more frenzied by the second. After a few moments, Lukas suddenly popped through the ice. He squeezed through the hole and threw his arms out, digging his nails into the ice in an effort to stay above water.

"Lukas!"

He coughed and spluttered the water from his lungs, clinging onto the ice for dear life. Jesse broke free from Petra's clutches and took several steps forward. A large crack shot through the ice like a flash of lightning, forcing both girls to back off. "Stupid ice!" she growled at her feet.

Petra backed away from the crack, glancing up and down at the ice and Lukas. "Lukas," she shouted once she was a safe distance away. "Move your body horizontally and kick your legs together!"

He nodded – or maybe that was a shiver – and tried to drag himself further onto the ice. Jesse was close enough to see his legs kick up a storm under the ice. While they moved enough to create a cloud of minuscule bubbles, each kick grew more tired and weaker than the last. The jagged corners of the hole dug into his chest, keeping him firmly pinned down as he thrashed around. Then his movements stopped altogether as a strong Arctic gust blew past him, shivers wracking through his body.

"Just…give me a moment," he said in between shallow breaths. "Can't…m–move m' legs…very much."

Jesse scrutinised the ice between them. Despite the large crack that separated them, the ice was definitely thick enough to have supported both her and Petra's weight. However, she still kept her distance. Even if they could make it across to Lukas, the ice could easily break if they got too close. And then there was the matter of pulling him out. You'd have to be an idiot not to realize that simply walking up and pulling him out was just asking for trouble. No, there was no way of saving Lukas on foot. That left one other option.

"Petra, what have you got in your pockets?"

There was a brief pause before she got an answer. "My sword, some string and a couple of snowballs."

Jesse reached into her pocket, hoping that what she was looking for hadn't frozen. "Here," she tossed over a slimeball with her back turned to Petra. "Take that and get Ivor into the cabin. A cabin that big must have a bathtub somewhere; fill it with warm water and put him in."

"But Jesse–"

"This isn't up for debate! Craft two leads, tie them together and come back out. Go, now!"

Petra pursed her lips into a thin line and breathed through her nose. With an exasperated huff, she stalked to the shore. "I had better not find both of you in the lake when I come back." Jesse kept an eye on her until she was a mere speck on the snow, helping a brown dot to its feet and half carrying it up the stairs.

Lukas shivered as another gust brushed his face. He was as pale as a sheet, clenching his jaw and tensing the muscles in his neck. "You're going to be fine," she held her hand out reassuringly. "Just hang in there."

He chuckled softly, resting his chin on the ice. "Hang in there? What d'you think I'm doing?" She wasn't sure whether the joke was more for his sake or for hers.

She bit her cheek, inhaled deeply and pushed back all the panicked thoughts running around her mind into a corner. A wave of calmness swept through, sealing those thoughts behind a thin wall. _Breathe. Assess the situation._

"First things first, how are you feeling?"

"I'm cold if that's what you're getting at."

"I mean it, Lukas. You didn't hit anything important while you were down there, did you?"

"Nothing serious. My hands hurt a little from all that scratching, but it'll pass."

Jesse tried returning his smile but it was impossible to keep the worry from her face. "You said you couldn't move your legs much. Is that still true?"

He nodded as another wave of shivers wracked his body. "Can't feel my ankles anymore. The water is really cold." A sharp finger poked her mental wall, creating a tiny crack in its centre. _Breathe, breathe._

Lukas braced his elbows onto the ice and started wriggling his body again, trying to heave himself out. "Look, Jesse," he grunted, as he twisted and turned his torso. "I don't know what people say you should do in these situations, but I'm pretty sure I should try getting out before I can't move anything."

Jesse looked down at the cracked no man's land separating them. "That sounds about right." She watched tiny bubbles rise up and rest on the underside of the ice as he kicked unsuccessfully; his legs were nothing more than dead weights as they danced around in the playful currents.

She found herself thinking about her old life before the Witherstorm. Back then, the biggest concern she had was decorating her treehouse and making sure Reuben didn't get lost while looking for carrots outside. They seemed so…petty. Now it was all about trying to find the right portal home, keeping everyone alive and well, and making sure they didn't kill each other in the process.

"How do we keep ending up in these messes?" she mused out loud.

Lukas looked up from his struggling for a moment and tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"You'd think that everything would have calmed down since the Witherstorm, but we keep getting into these situations. It's almost like trouble finds us rather than the other way around. It's not just me, is it?"

"No, I understand. We definitely, _NNGH,_ seem to suffer from a severe case of bad luck."

Jesse rose an eyebrow at Lukas' muffled grunting. From where she was standing, it didn't look like he had made any progress on pulling himself out. He hadn't even budged an inch. Despite herself and the severity of the situation, a small laugh escaped her lips. "You're stuck, aren't you?"

"No. I just can't kick my legs hard enough to propel me out."

"There's that, and how that hole is tiny."

"Jesse..."

"There's no shame in admitting it, you know."

Lukas shot the darkest death glare Jesse had ever seen from him. "I'm. Not. Stuck."

She smirked at him, crossing her arms as her eyes glinted mischievously. "Sure. And I'm the Queen of Boomtown. All hail." She resisted the urge to laugh again as his glare intensified.

When it became evident that his legs were useless, he stretched his arms out even further and clawed at the ice. Jesse shook her head at his pathetic attempts to reach a few millimetres of ice just out of his grasp. "I don't think that's helping Lukas. You're just wasting your energy."

"It is helping. I can reach it."

"No, you can't. You _really_ can't."

Lukas gritted his teeth together and glared up at her again. "Jesse."

"Yeah?"

" _Shut up_."

She rolled her eyes and held her hands up defensively, sighing at his fruitless endeavor. Once she got bored of watching him struggle, she looked behind her to check on how Petra and Ivor were doing. There was no sign of either one on the staircase, though – they must have made it inside. Just knowing that Ivor wasn't exposed to the elements any more released a heavy weight from her shoulders. Hopefully, it also meant that Petra would be back any minute now.

That was assuming that Lukas had minutes' left to spare.

The sound of cracking ice made Jesse turn back around. Lukas immediately stopped squirming as several chunks of ice disappeared into the lake. His body suddenly sunk several inches down.

"Lukas!" Jesse watched in horror as he frantically dug his nails into the ice, gasping as the water rose up his chest.

"I'm alright," he called to her. His descent halted at his armpits, leaving him even wetter than before. "I'm alright!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I–"

His nails dragged against the ice as he sunk again, chipping the ice around his fingers. With a growl, he drove his nails further in. Jesse could feel the cracks spread across her mental wall like wildfire. Tiny shards of her fading self-control clinked onto the floor as her fear, with its dark, spindly fingers, poked and prodded through the cracks.

Lukas met her eyes, wearing the same terrified expression plastered on her own face. He shook his head slowly – a warning. As if he knew what was going through her mind.

It was in moments like this that Jesse truly believed that he knew her far better than she did.

The cabin doors burst opened behind her, banging against the walls as they almost swung off their hinges. "Jesse!" It was Petra. Jesse breathed a sigh of relief as she saw her friend running down the staircase at top speed, taking two steps at a time.

It would be alright now. Petra was here and they would get Lukas out the lake and leave this world together. It was going to be–

The ice cracked again. Lukas was doing his best to stay above water, but he was tired and the freezing temperatures were taking their toll on his body. The weight of his legs pulled him further down, all the way to his shoulders. He was sinking too fast. Petra wasn't even at the bottom of the staircase. They weren't going to make it in time.

All Jesse could hear was the blood roaring in her ears, and her heart pounding in her chest. _Breathe,_ her mind repeated in a firm voice. It was struggling to keep control over her. Her thoughts scratched against her mental wall, pushing and nudging against the weak barrier locking them up. At that moment, a hand shot through her wall and shattered the thin veil. Pieces of her calm façade fell around her like broken glass, until all that fear swarmed out and smothered the voice keeping her placid.

Her mind erupted as her emotions rushed around, screaming, shouting orders at her. Go save him! Don't move or you'll make the ice worse. Wait for Petra. Don't wait. Jesse couldn't make sense of anything as the voices clamored over each other, trying to win her attention.

 _Enough!_ Amid the chaotic storm thundering inside her, a new voice spoke to her. It was strong and authoritative but lacked the patronising tone of its counterpart. It hushed the clamour of her emotions. A surge of adrenaline suddenly swept through her, clearing her mind of all distractions until she could focus on one thing.

Lukas.

She smiled as it whispered its command, an order that she could heartily agree with.

Lukas said something to her as she bent her knees, took several steps back and glared at the ice with unwavering determination. "Jesse, no!" His voice rung across the lake, but it fell on deaf ears.

 _Screw calm._

She dashed forward and slid onto her stomach, using the momentum to carry herself towards Lukas.

"JESSICA, STOP!"

She didn't care about the ice cracking around her, or how she was moments away from falling in herself. None of that mattered. The only thing that did was Lukas.

She reached out to him as she came within arm's reach. Her momentum practically threw her into him just as he fell another inch. "Don't you dare let go!" She said. Her eyes burned into his as she firmly clasped his wrists.

Lukas shook his head at her, hanging his jaw wide open. "You're crazy," he breathed. "You know that?"

"Yep. And right now this crazy girl is saving your life."

Jesse strained her neck towards Petra, to see her leap over the last four steps and stop at the edge of the ice. She cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled loudly. "Are you two okay?"

"Throw the lead over!"

Petra pulled it out of her inventory, grasping its end and coiling the rest of it in her other hand. She swung it around and around over her head. as it reached the peak of its speed, she released it, letting it fly over the ice and land at Jesse's feet.

Jesse twisted her ankle towards the large loophole knotted at the end of the lead. The movement itself sent a loud shudder through the ice. "I can't reach it," Jesse shouted at her.

The rope vanished as Petra swiftly pulled it back to shore. "I'm going to try again. Just hold on!"

Jesse could barely hear her as she observed Lukas. His heartbeat pulsed in her hands, almost in rhythm with hers. Now that she was next to him, the severity of the situation hit her like a tonne of bricks.

His heartbeat was incredibly slow, as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep. His face was paler than his hair, while the tops of his ears, nose and cheeks were speckled blue. She could feel the cold radiating off his fingers - a clear sign that he was frozen to the core.

To make things worse, his eyes kept fluttering open and closed. "Don't mean to freak you out," he mumbled, "but I'm feeling kinda tired right now. That's a bad thing, right?"

Jesse couldn't find the words to say, choosing to nod instead.

Lukas panted a shaky breath. "Look, if we don't make it to shore...I need to tell you something."

She knitted her brows together. "You can tell me when we're in the cabin."

"But Jesse-"

"Anytime now, Petra!" she yelled over her shoulder.

The loop landed flat on her back on cue. She released one hand from Lukas to yank the rope over her shoulder, took his wrist again, and did the same with the other.

Suddenly, the hole completely collapsed around them. Lukas opened his mouth to scream but was pulled under the ice before he could make a sound. Jesse tightened her grip on his wrists, even as she was dragged into the water with him. She felt her face plunge into the icy waters, the cold slashing her cheeks like daggers. She squinted into the darkness to see Lukas looking up at her with his cheeks puffed up with air. His wrists slid in her hands, until she felt him grab her own wrists.

The lead went taut around her chest, pulling the two of them out of the water again. The coughed and gasped for air as Petra tugged them out of the hole and further onto the ice. It wasn't easy – in her desperation to get to Lukas, Jesse had made the entire stretch of ice she had slid across unstable. While she was out of the water, every time they tried to pull Lukas up the ice broke beneath him. It took several tries to successfully get his whole body of out of the water and onto the ice.

Jesse shivered as the wind bit into her wet skin. Her lungs felt like they were shrinking, as an invisible pair of hands wrapped around her throat and choked the little air she had left. It hadn't been so bad when it had just been her leg in the water. But now it felt like the gusts were trying to tear her apart, as freezing droplets trickled off her clumped strands of hair. The chill raced down her spine and numbed her bones to the marrow.

 _Stop it_ , her brain hissed at her. Lukas had been in the water for far longer than she had and dealt with the Arctic winds while the rest of them fumbled over his rescue. If she felt like this after a few seconds, how did Lukas feel?

"Lukas, you still there buddy?" He struggled to keep his eyes open, opting to make a guttural moan rather than form a sentence. "We're almost at the shore. Stay with me, ok."

She didn't hear a response.

They finally reached the shoreline. Jesse threw herself off the ice, throwing the lead over her head and thanking the invisible forces for creating land. Meanwhile, Petra pulled Lukas to his feet and looped his arm over her shoulder. "I've got a fire going inside. Help me with Lukas."

Jesse lifted his dangling arm over her own shoulder and wrapped her arm around his back. Lukas was nothing more than a dead weight, weighing all three of them down as he swayed and stumbled all the way to the staircase. Both girls went onto the first step and had to haul Lukas up before continuing.

When they were halfway up, he suddenly slumped his head onto Jesse's shoulder, mumbling incoherent garbage. She instinctively tensed up, feeling a new wave of goosebumps run down her arms as his wet hair tickled her cheek and tiny droplets ran down her neck.

"When we get inside the two of you need to get your armour off," Petra grumbled as they hauled Lukas onto another step. "The last thing we need is for anyone to get sick, on top of being hypothermic."

Jesse nodded in agreement, trying to ignore how close Lukas was to her, until a sudden thought popped into her head. It threw a spanner in her brain cogs, grinding everything to a halt. She swallowed uneasily and slowly turned her head to Petra. "What exactly do you mean by, 'take our armour off'?" The hairs on the back of her neck rose as Lukas' hair tickled her chin.

"I mean, take off your armour," she glared, clearly unamused. "Right to your underwear." Jesse hoped that Lukas wasn't awake to hear her high-pitched squeak. "Your bodies are trying to bring your temperature back to normal. By keeping those wet clothes on, you're stopping that from happening."

"I know that! It's just..." Jesse looked down at Lukas' blue skin. "Lukas isn't exactly in a position to do that himself."

"And?"

"And!" she spluttered. "You can't just take his armour off. It's rude!"

Lukas stirred and lifted his head up slightly. "What's rude?" he mumbled.

Jesse heaved a heavy sigh of relief before Petra interrupted her. "Jesse and I are going to take your armour off when we get inside."

That got a reaction. Lukas shifted his neck to get a better look of Petra. "Uh, I must be hearing things," he laughed, nervously, "because for a moment it sounded like you said the two of you were going to strip me." His smile faded away as he caught sight of Petra's annoyed face. "Wait, you're serious?"

"Tell me about it," Jesse muttered under her breath.

"You guys that's not necessary. I can easily do that myself."

"Do you want to get hypothermia?" Petra shot back.

"I..uh...whoa." Jesse tightened her grip as Lukas started swaying again. And once again, his head rolled back onto her shoulder. "Sorry, everything just went really dizzy..."

Petra huffed while Jesse tried to calm her breathing and gently squirm away from Lukas' head. He seemed to have other ideas. She went rigid was he abruptly nuzzled his face into her neck, his cool breaths sending shivers up her spine.

"Lukas you're already hypothermic. You need to...and you're unconscious again. Great." She peered over at Jesse, who let out a quiet whimper. "Jesse, what are you doing?"

"He's in my neck!" She hissed in a tiny voice.

"He's cold and your neck is probably the warmest thing closest to him. Which, considering how your face is as red as a tomato, doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Now stop fussing and help me get through the door."

When they reached the glass double doors, Jesse kicked them open with her foot. The wind did the rest, nearly blasting the doors off their hinges as they hammered against the windows. Snow blew in and dusted the oak floor, before melting into a giant puddle. The three of them shuffled in together, trying to shield Lukas from the gusts.

Once inside, Petra pulled herself free and lightly shoved Lukas onto Jesse. "The fireplace is down the hallway, the last door on the left," she said, as she scurried to close the banging doors. "I'll find some blankets and meet you there."

Jesse pulled Lukas closer and adjusted her grip on him, before hobbling underneath the sweeping U-shaped staircase that filled the room. They passed extravagant paintings of snow-topped mountains and small tables littered with candles, glossy wax pooled around each stick. A wave of cinnamon and fresh cloves enveloped them as they went further down the corridor.

The walls opened into a large rectangular room. There were two pine doors on the back wall leading to separate rooms, and two long sofas arranged on either side of a glass coffee table in the centre of the room. A brightly coloured tapestry hung between the doors, with a strange diamond pattern running down it. A dusty loom stood close by, with the remnants of an unfinished project dangling between the pieces of wood.

Heat flowed through the left door, cracked open several inches, with a faint orange glow illuminating the room.

A deep, guttural moan beside her reminded her not to get distracted.

She limped around the leather sofas and pushed the door open. The heat surged into her bones from a large stone fireplace. She dragged Lukas, slammed the door behind her, and headed to the crackling fire. His eyelids flickered as she lay him down just short of the hearth.

Her hands trembled over Lukas' shoulder. Right. First things first, get his iron armour off.

She slipped her gloves off, figuring that she could do a better job without them, and put them down beside her. The tips of her fingers were red but it didn't look like there was any damage to the skin. That lit a spark of hope within her as she fumbled with the clasps and buckles securing the pauldrons on Lukas' shoulders. When she had slipped them off, she threw them into a pile next to her gloves, spreading out the leather straps to dry. She continued with his gloves, greaves, and belt, carefully removing the items from the belt pockets before leaving them to dry. His items went into a chest on the right wall underneath a tall window.

Only then did she notice the room's furnishings.

She had closed the lid of the chest and turned back to Lukas when she noticed a large, taxidermy yeti next to the door. It glared at her with glazed, while pupils, frozen with its arms outstretched as if it had tried to grab someone before being preserved. Rows of sharp teeth were bared at her, daring her to come closer. Her skin prickled with unease.

Then she noticed the others. Mooshrooms, cows, wolves, even a pair of ocelots, had been placed around the room and against the walls. In the glow of the fireplace, she realized that there were no paintings in the room, but rather the mounted heads of numerous animals.

She felt the blood flow from her face as she spotted the head of a pig on the far wall.

This was a trophy room.

Jesse felt bile rise up her throat; she covered her mouth and forced it back down. _Just ignore it and focus on Lukas_ , she said to herself. Once she pulled off his boots and damp socks, all his armour pieces were off. That just left his clothes.

She bit her lip as she slipped his jacket off and hung it over a chair in between two white wolves. To her mortification, his arms weren't as thin as she'd expected them to be. Slivers of muscle ran underneath his pale skin, thanks to the months he'd contributed to the post-Witherstorm rebuilding efforts, as well as using his sword more often in the past weeks.

She grabbed the hem of his shirt and averted her gaze before quickly ripping it off. His goggles got caught as she pulled it over his head, slicking his hair off his forehead. "Nope," she said, as she threw both the shirt and goggles over the chair, and returned to peel his pants off. "Nope, nope, nope, nope."

They put up a little resistance when they reached his knees, so she tugged harder. "Please just come off," she begged. "Just be a cooperative pair of jeans and just come off."

"Jesse?"

She ripped them off, causing Lukas to yelp in surprise, and stared wide-eyed at her now fully-conscious friend.


	3. The Aftermath

He hadn't meant to spook her like that. In all honesty, she scared him when she ripped his jeans off.

How did he even get inside? The last time his eyes were open, Petra and Jesse were helping him up the staircase. He vaguely remembered leaning on Jesse's shoulder before he had to close his eyes again. The world had been spinning so much and he didn't want to fall backwards. And now he was here.

He only woke up because it felt as if something was unbuckling his armour. At first, it was a blessing – they had been weighing him down ever since he fell into the lake. But then he felt his shirt come off. And then his jeans.

Jesse held them away from her face as if they were a wild animal trying to scratch her. He blinked at her, looked at his drenched trousers then back to her face. He caught her eyes flash down to his bare chest when she thought he wasn't looking. If it wasn't clear by her frozen stance as to what she was thinking, then her face did. Utter and complete embarrassment.

She wasn't the only one.

He raised an eyebrow as a deep blush spread across her face. "You're blushing," he said quietly.

It must have been the wrong thing to say because the redness only intensified. She suddenly jumped away and threw his jeans onto his face. "Don't look at me!" she screeched, as he heard her land onto the oak floor.

When he had thrown his jeans off his face, Jesse was sitting several feet away, covering her guilty eyes and burning face. "I could say the same to you!" he huffed, wrapping his arms around himself. "Why were you undressing me?"

"Petra told me to do it so you wouldn't get colder and your hypothermia would ease up, but then she went to get blankets and you were freezing and…ARGH!" She scuffled behind a large, oddly shaped couch in the centre of the room. He could make out her turning her back to him and hunching over into a ball of shame. "Just kill me now," she muttered into her knees.

"Wait. Petra told you this?"

"Yes! You were awake when she said it too."

"I was? I can't remember."

"Well, you were."

Now that he thought about it, he did remember Petra saying something along those lines while they were walking up the staircase. Yes, and he thought that she was joking, or that he'd misheard her. Sometimes it felt like nothing could faze Petra.

A mischievous grin spread across his face as an idea popped into his head. "So, ah…d'you like what you see?" He laughed as she groaned loudly, her voice carrying across the room.

"Oh my gosh, _really!_ I only looked when you woke up, and even then it was barely looking."

"Really. Because that's not what I remember."

Oh yeah. She was definitely embarrassed. And he would burn in hell for teasing her like this.

He heard her huff into her hands. "Alright, I'm going to change. If I catch you peeking, so help me I will throw you back in that lake with only your boxers."

"And how do you know I'm wearing boxers? I thought you said you barely looked."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Of course not," he smiled to himself smugly. "Why, that would make me a monster."

"You _are_ a monster. One that's clearly taking too much pleasure from my discomfort."

Lukas gasped dramatically as he huddled closer to the fire. "Oh, Jesse. I'm hurt. Wounded."

"Good."

He smiled at the fire, letting the heat restore life to his frozen body. A series of metallic clanging echoed across the room as Jesse let her armour fall onto the floor. Suddenly, he spotted something in the corner of his eye. Something big, white and fluffy.

"Whoa!" He instinctively reached for his sword, only to find it was gone. Jesse must have removed it while he was unconscious.

"What is it?" Jesse sounded extremely confused.

"Where's my sword?" he said quickly.

"What?"

"There's a yeti in here!"

He kept his eyes fixated on the monster, waiting for Jesse to see it too. This was fine – he just needed to make sure it didn't grab him. Or Jesse for that matter. The fact that she was taking her time to respond didn't ease his nerves.

"Don't worry," she said after a long pause. "It's just taxidermy. The room is full of them, in case you hadn't noticed."

Lukas furrowed his brow and squinted at the yeti. Oddly enough, she was right. He caught sight of the rest of the animals scattered around the room, staring back at him with their unnerving glossy eyes.

"What do you think I'm changing behind?"

"I don't know, a couch?"

"A couch? It's a mooshroom! How did you mistake a mooshroom for a couch?"

He whirled around to glare at Jesse. "Hey, it's dark alright! Anyone could make…that…"

 _Crap. Holy crap._ In his frustration, he had completely forgotten about his promise not to turn around. Now he was paying the price, getting a clear view of Jesse's bare back as she took off her wet T-shirt. Luckily for him, she was too busy to notice his staring.

"Make, what?" She dropped her shirt to the floor with a loud splat. Lukas quickly spun back around just as she looked over her shoulder.

What did she say would happen if he looked? He didn't dare to move in case she saw the deep blush returning to his face. "What?" He asked innocently, pretending that he hadn't heard her.

"You were saying something and then you just trailed off. Like you." He could almost hear the gears in her head work away, putting the pieces together. "Saw something."

 _I will throw you back in that lake with only your boxers._ Those were her exact words. He could already feel the icy water lapping around his ankles.

"Lu-kas?" Jesse drew his name out in a menacing tone.

He was dead.

"Yeah, I…uh." He rummaged through his head for something to say, but all he could think about was the sight of her skin.

"Yes?"

"I…" he suddenly spotted the pair of ocelots near the window. "Saw the ocelots." _Please let her buy it, please let her buy it._ While he doubted that Jesse would throw him outside, she would definitely do something. One only had to remember the fates of everyone who had crossed her. The old Order of the Stone – forced to publicly admit lying to the world. Aiden – imprisoned and left stranded in another world. Cassie Rose – left on a platform surrounded by Endermites. Jesse was not one to be trifled with, and while she was one of the nicest people he knew, she had a knack for delivering justice as she saw fit. She wouldn't go easy on him just because they were friends.

The room fell into complete silence. He was certain that he was heading to an early grave until Jesse replied back. "Oh, yeah. I'm sorry about them, Lukas. I know how much you like ocelots. Just try to ignore them."

It hadn't been a complete lie. The sight of those poor ocelots did tug at his heart. Regardless, he was relieved that he had managed to come out of that conversation unscathed. Well, mostly – it would be a while until he could get that image of Jesse out of his head.

"Actually, something's been bothering me about the taxidermy," he said, after spotting a zombie posed like a mannequin.

"You mean other than the fact that it's just plain creepy?"

"Other than that, yes. Animals and monsters always poof when they die, just as we do. I wonder how whoever built this place has managed to keep them like this for so long."

"That's actually a fair point. Maybe they used some kind of potion, like a Potion of Regeneration?"

"Then why are they frozen like that? I'm pretty sure they're dead."

"Yeah, that's true." He heard Jesse's footsteps coming up behind him. She passed him, laid her clothes by the hearth and dropped her armour by the door. "I wonder what happened to the owner. I mean, this is a pretty nice cabin. Why would someone build something as extravagant as this in the middle of nowhere, invest so much time into decorating it with the paintings, tapestries, and those monstrosities," she waved her arms at all the monsters and animals in the room. "If you were going to leave anyway?"

She sat down next to Lukas and stared into the fire, crossing her arms over her chest in an effort to cover herself. Neither one had the guts to look at each other directly but stole split-second glances in the other's direction.

"Maybe they got lost in the blizzard or a yeti got them?"

Jesse shook her head. "They managed to kill all these creatures and there's probably a generous amount of crafting materials in here. That would indicate that they lived here a while. They would have known not to go out in a blizzard."

"We knew the same thing, and we still did it."

"That's because we needed to find Petra before she got herself killed."

Lukas ran his fingers through his hair, trying to sweep the lingering dampness from his head without having to shake his tangled mop like a wet dog. "There could have been more than one person. It's certainly big enough for at least seven people."

"You may have a point there." They listened to the crackling embers as one of the logs collapsed, sending a shower of sparks rising up the chimney. "So," Jesse fumbled with her words, rubbing the back of her neck. "Are you feeling a little better?"

Lukas rolled his shoulders and placed his palms on either side of his body. "A little. I still can't entirely feel my legs, but I'll survive." He paused thoughtfully and let the heat thaw his face. "Thanks for what you did back there," he added in a gentle voice.

Jesse raised an eyebrow, finally summing up the courage to face him. "But you said it was crazy."

"It _was_ crazy. And reckless. And impulsive. And clearly not thought through. But we both know that I would have fallen in by the time Petra gave you the lead. And I know, without a doubt, that I would have drowned. You saved my life."

"Aw, stop it," Jesse gave his arm a playful shove. "You would have done the same for me."

Lukas smiled to himself. If only she knew. He would have done the same, maybe even faster than she did. Just like that time in Soren's fortress.

As he recalled, they had to leap across several podiums to get to the other side of a gaping chasm. He had been halfway across when he heard Jesse cry out behind him. She had misjudged the distance between one of the podiums and landed on the edge. When he had turned around, part of the podium collapsed beneath her. He caught a glimpse of her overalls before she disappeared over the edge, as her startled yells echoed across the chamber.

Reuben had landed a short distance away from her and immediately ran to the spot where she fell, squealing hysterically while he inspected the crevice for his friend. Lukas had jumped back the way he'd come to join him. After he'd peered into the darkness for any sight of Jesse, Reuben had firmly gazed up at him before leaping after her. His message had been clear: _Come with me if you're not too chicken._ So he did.

Jesse had been lucky; it had been a long way down. While she hadn't sprained anything, he still noticed a slight limp in her left leg until they had reached Ivor's laboratory.

Back in the present, Jesse rubbed her shoulders and looked towards the door. "What's taking Petra so long?" she said with a frown.

Lukas didn't need to be told that he'd gladly put himself in harm's way if it meant protecting Jesse. And if what happened on the lake said anything, he knew that she would do the same for him.

The door burst open, causing the whole room to shake. Petra stepped through the doorway with bundles of blankets in her arms, staring at the two of them with huge, excited eyes. "You guys are never going to believe what I just found," she said with a wide grin, as the door shut behind her.

Jesse didn't seem particularly impressed by her entrance. "Where were you? I thought you were just getting blankets."

Petra casually waved her off and dumped the pile of blankets onto her lap, before heading to a corner to undress. Jesse still didn't look very happy by her tardiness but accepted the offering regardless. She took a blanket and threw it over Lukas' shoulders.

"I was," Petra said, leaning against the wall as she pulled her boots off. "I went all over the cabin looking for those. Believe it or not, they were in the basement! Who puts blankets in a basement?"

"Stay on track, Petra."

"Right, right. So while I was collecting all the blankets I could see, I spotted this huge cover draped over something on the back wall. I went and pulled it off, thinking 'It's a little dusty, but we could all easily fit under there and have room left over.'" Petra returned to them and put her armour beside Jesse's.

"That was quick," Jesse pointed out.

"I've had more practice than you." Lukas turned away as Petra whipped the rest of her clothes off and left them by the fire. "You can look now, Lukas." She said cheerfully. When he did, she was staring at him giddily, fidgeting like a child on Christmas day. "But anyway, guess what was underneath it?"

"More taxidermy?" Jesse said dryly, earning a confused look from Petra. She jerked her head to the large yeti to her left.

Petra looked at the yeti with disgust, which only intensified as she surveyed the rest of the room. "Uh…no." She shook her head as if to shake off her unease, and brought her smile back onto her face. "A portal."

Lukas straightened his back. "A portal? As in, _the_ portal?"

Somewhere in the cabin, outside the room, several floorboards creaked as if someone had put pressure on them. They all ignored it, their minds having latched onto Petra's news and the trove of information it held.

"So this cabin was built by the Old Builders?" Jesse mused aloud.

"Seems so." Petra leaned against the polished mantel above the fire. She didn't look as cold as they were, no doubt due to her thicker armour and the fact that she hadn't fallen into a frozen lake. "I also found some Potions of Regeneration while I was searching upstairs. I've already given one to Ivor, and there's enough for the rest of us too. They should reduce the time Ivor and Lukas need to recover to a few hours or so. Then it's just a matter of stocking up on the supplies in the cabin and–"

She was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Jesse was the first to look at the doorway. "Oh my gosh, Ivor!" she yelled, covering her eyes with both hands.

Petra and Lukas looked over to see what the problem was, and instantly regretted it. "Whoa!" they said together, putting their hands to the sides of their faces to block their line of sight.

Lukas could make out Ivor's footsteps as he walked towards Jesse and then to the yeti, followed by the sound of clothes being dropped onto the floor.

"Ivor," Petra said through gritted teeth. "I thought I told you to stay in the tub."

"I thawed out ages ago and the potion you gave me got rid of the frostbite almost immediately. See, no skin damage anywhere!"

"Yeah," Lukas muttered, closing his eyes in embarrassment. "We all saw."

A strangled noise came out of Jesse's throat. "Why are you naked?!" she cried mournfully.

"Well, I'm not anymore." Ivor sat down next to Lukas with a blanket wrapped around his body like a weird burrito. Thankfully, it was large enough to cover anything unpleasant.

"But why were you?"

Ivor stared at Jesse as if she had sprouted an extra head. "Petra told me to. I'm not going to wear wet clothes."

"And you didn't think to, oh I don't know, knock on the door and give us a heads up?"

"My arms were full; I didn't want anything to fall out of my robes. Stop shaming me!"

"You are not the victim here! Just…why, Ivor? _Why_?"

"Oh stop being so childish!"

"I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!"

"Honestly, you'd think that this was the first time you've seen a naked person."

"It is!"

"What, really?" He shrugged and nestled into his blanket. "Well, there's no time like the present."

That prompted a collective groan from all three of them. Lukas cringed as images of Ivor naked floated around his mind. "Not for that there's not. _Never_ for that."

Petra tossed Lukas a regeneration potion before going to Jesse's side, patting her on the back reassuringly while she kept her eyes covered. He gulped down the contents and threw the empty vial over his shoulder.

"I don't see why you're all ganging up on me," Ivor continued, pointing an accusing finger at Jesse and Petra. "The two of you should be ashamed of yourselves, flaunting around with only the bare minimum on. There are blankets available – use them!"

"At least we have something on!" Jesse shot back, splaying her hands onto the floor. "Which is more than I can say for– _UGH!_ "

Lukas raised his eyebrows as Petra grabbed one of the blankets and shoved it into Jesse's gut, knocking the wind out of her. Jesse hunched over and clutched the blanket with her arm while gasping for air.

"Alright," Petra said firmly, taking a blanket for herself and sitting on Jesse's right. "This conversation is over. The next person who brings it up again is getting a punch in the stomach. We all clear about that?"

Lukas and Ivor bobbed their heads up and down in a daze. "Clear." They both mumbled. Jesse gave a thumbs-up, still winded from the attack.

They all sat in front of the fire and huddled into a tight line, silently watching the dancing flames and breathing in the smoky air. It was dark outside; the glare from the fireplace passed through the windows and bounced off the miniature snow dunes forming by the windows, as the snow clouds dropped a fresh blanket over them. The wind rattled against the windows – another storm was coming. The sharp contrast between the light from the fireplace and the darkness engulfing the rest of the room made Lukas' eyes hurt. He fought against the heaviness in his eyes that threatened to pull him to sleep.

On his left, Ivor curled up on the floor, rested his head on his hands and went to sleep. Petra copied him. She lay down on her back and closed her eyes with her blanket draped over her legs. Jesse pulled her knees to her chest and pulled her blanket over her shoulders. Her head kept jerking upwards whenever it started to droop.

"Tired?" Lukas asked with a smile.

Her lips thinned out as she stifled a yawn and rubbed her eyes. "No. Just resting my eyes."

Lukas looked back at the fire and yawned behind his hand. "So I'm thinking we should stay here until we're certain that everyone's okay. I know Petra wants to leave as soon as possible, but I'd feel better if we could use the time to rest. That way we'll be at our best for when we go into the next portal." He rolled up his blanket and lowered himself onto his back, slipping it underneath his head as a makeshift pillow.

"Mmm-hum," Jesse mumbled.

"There must be some mountain sheep nearby if the taxidermy is any indication. You and Petra can go hunting while I keep a watch on Ivor. Make sure he isn't lying about his condition just to make Petra happy."

"Mmm."

"It should only be for a day or two. If this cabin was really built by the Old Builders, then it's probably the safest place we've– _OOMPH!_ "

He looked down to his stomach where Jesse's head had landed. She must have dozed off while he was talking. He hadn't even noticed her slump towards him. "Uh…Jesse?" He gently poked her in the shoulder but failed to get a response. "You still there?"

Soft breaths whistled through her nose and tickled his skin. Her body rose and fell with each breath, keeping in line with his own breathing. Her hair flowed past her nape, streaming across his body like a midnight sky. _Of course, she's asleep. When would she ever do this on purpose?_

He glanced at the others, checking whether they were awake to see his predicament. After the day's events, the last thing he wanted was for anyone to see this. Thankfully, they were already asleep. Petra's head was rolled away from him, while Ivor was lightly snoring on his other side.

He prodded her again, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Jesse, can you get off, please?" He knew she probably wouldn't hear him, but it was worth trying.

She moaned in her sleep and changed position, nestling her head onto his chest before swinging her arm over his waist. "No, don't do…ugh. Great." He groaned into his hand, feeling his face burn up again. Well, this certainly wasn't going to be awkward when she woke up. He could only hope that by then she would have moved away.

Then she started to talk.

At first, it was a jumble of slurred noises, nothing more than the nonsensical ramblings of someone asleep. But as he paid more attention, he noticed that they sounded like poorly formed sentences.

Jesse suddenly curled up closer to him and hugged him roughly. "R…Reuben…" she mumbled into his chest, "good boy…"

The next thing he knew his hand was on Jesse's head, tenderly stroking her hair as she stirred in her sleep. While he moved his hand in short strokes, he hushed her softly. "It's okay," he whispered. "It's just a dream." His voice appeared to soothe her. He could feel her body relax against his and she loosened her hug. Her lips curved into a faint smile as he continued to stroke her.

"Got a…carrot…for you."

He returned the smile before allowing his mind to fall silent and let his exhaustion consume him. "Sweet dreams, Jesse."

* * *

Petra didn't know who or what woke her up, but as she adjusted to her surroundings and felt a kink in her neck, she swore that if it was one of her companions playing a joke on her, they'd be sprouting bruises in places they didn't know existed.

She stared up at the ceiling, kneading her fingers into her neck, and sat up straight. The fire was dying at her feet, reduced to a warm glow underneath a charred log. The room was still warm, but it wouldn't remain that way for long.

She got up and stumbled forward several inches, plucked two logs from a woven twig basket, and chucked them into the fireplace. The charred log collapsed into a cloud of ash that rose up the chimney alongside several embers. The remains of the fire crackled in thanks as it engulfed the two fresh logs.

As she made her way back to her original spot and flopped onto the floor, she spotted a small heap of limbs and hair beside her. To her surprise, and mild amusement, it turned out to be Jesse and Lukas.

Jesse lay on her stomach and used his chest as a pillow, having managed to wriggle half her body onto him. Meanwhile, Lukas had wrapped his left arm around her, both pulling her closer and preventing her from rolling off. Jesse's blanket lay in a bundle on their left, forgotten and unwanted. They both had one hand on the other's body: Jesse's arm was draped across his body and her hand rested on his left bicep, while Lukas' hand was relaxed on her waist. The situation with their legs was another story. With Jesse's right leg curled in between his, she could have passed as a koala hugging a tree.

Petra didn't know what was more adorable. The fact that they had gotten into that position while asleep, or that they both had smiles on their faces as they nestled together.

"You dorks," she said to herself, curling up and closing her eyes. "Figures you'd only hug each other when you're both asleep."

Before she nodded off again, Petra hoped that she would be awake when Jesse and Lukas woke up. If she knew her friends, and she did, it was guaranteed to be the funniest thing she had ever seen.


End file.
